The $65,000 Question

On Tuesday, active major league rosters expand from 25 players to 40 players.As a result, it’s one of the most stressful times to be around a Triple-A team.

Think about it.The minimum major league salary is $390,000.As a result, a September call-up for the lowest paid guy on the totem pole is worth $65,000 (plus roughly $3000 in “meal money” for road trips).

Hyder brought that up last night when we were talking about Chris Carter’s lame duck status with the PawSox.When the Yankees put in a waiver claim on Chris to delay his eventual trade to the Mets (forcing the Red Sox to keep Chris on their 40-man roster), they not only prevented him from getting valuable major league playing time in September with his new team, but they probably cost him a ton of money.

(photos courtesy of Kelly O’Connor)

On Saturday night, Chris started for the first time in nine games for Pawtucket and went 2-for-4 in a 3-0 loss to Scranton/WB.In other words, a guy who has to be consumed by his own misfortune and who’s been on the bench for more than a week was still Pawtucket’s best hitter.

The Mets are eventually going to get a guy who can flat-out hit.For Carter’s sake, I hope that leads to a long major league career, which is obviously worth a lot more than $65,000.

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Paul Byrd’s promotion to Boston on Sunday means the Red Sox currently have 39 players on their 40-man roster.Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the 60-day disabled list (which doesn’t count toward the 40-man), so the Red Sox have to save a spot for him.

If you play the “who will get called-up” guessing game, it’s helpful to know which Pawtucket players are on the 40-man roster and which players aren’t.If a player is not on the 40-man and the Red Sox want to call him up, then somebody has to be designated for assignment to make room.

Here is a list of Pawtucket players who are currently on the Red Sox 40-man roster, who could be called-up next week with no roster juggling required.

Pitchers:Michael Bowden, Hunter Jones, Marcus McBeth

Catchers:George Kottaras, Dusty Brown, Mark Wagner

Infielders:Jeff Bailey, Aaron Bates, Jed Lowrie

Outfielders:Brian Anderson, Chris Carter, Josh Reddick

Here is a list of current Pawtucket players who have appeared for Boston this year but are no longer on the 40-man roster.To make room for one of these players, someone from the above list (other than Carter) will have to be designated.

Additionally, the Red Sox just traded for outfielder Joey Gathright who will immediately join Pawtucket.It appears that he was obtained to give Boston a speedy pinch-runner to have on the bench in September, so if/when he gets called-up, a player that is currently on the 40-man roster will have to go.

So who will get called-up next week?George Kottaras and Jed Lowrie appear to be locks.I would guess that Jeff Bailey, Marcus McBeth, and Joey Gathright are likely call-ups.After that, your guess is as good as mine.

By the way, I’m looking forward to asking Gathright about his famous jump over the roof of a parked car.It’s been viewed nearly 700,000 times on YouTube.You can add to the total by watching here.

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If the Red Sox had not just traded for LHP Billy Wagner, I might have put Dustin Richardson on the list.Perhaps I still should.

The 25-year-old lefty has simply been phenomenal since his promotion from Portland on August 21st.

On Saturday night he tossed two perfect innings against Scranton/WB and struck out three of the six batters he faced.

Right-handed batters are 1-for-12 vs. Richardson and lefties are 0-for-3.

Richardson will be pitching when the PawSox season is over, but it will be for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League, beginning on October 13th.

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I don’t mean to be overly critical of the Scranton/WB Yankees management, but last night’s decision to delay the opening game of a doubleheader in anticipation of rain was absurd.

The two teams waited around under perfect weather conditions for more than an hour before the first drop of rain arrived.When the storm finally hit, it lasted for about 20 minutes, but the overall rain delay turned out to be 2:13.

As a result, I’m adding another thing to the list of rule changes for when I become commissioner.

New Rule:No rain delays until there is actually rain.

I don’t care what the local meteorologist says or how ominous the storm appears on radar, if it’s not raining when the game is scheduled to begin, start playing until it arrives.

Makes sense doesn’t it?

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Because of the lengthy delay on Saturday, the scheduled doubleheader was pushed back to Sunday (on getaway day for the PawSox before a bus ride to Allentown).

Randor Bierd and Charlie Zink will be the starting pitchers in a pair of 7-inning games.I hope you’ll join us for the radio call beginning with the pre-game show at 4:50 on the PawSox radio network and PawSox.com.

About Me

I began writing this blog when I was a broadcaster for the Pawtucket Red Sox before leaving the team at the end of the 2011 season to become the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals. I am also the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Cincinnati football and basketball. Thanks to all of you who began reading this blog for content about Red Sox prospects. I will always cherish my time with the PawSox.
I still plan to write about baseball and will post all of my blog entries about the Bengals and Bearcats on this blog as well. I welcome your questions and/or comments at Dan.Hoard@Bengals.NFL.Net

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